So I haven't been exactly straightforward lately.


I'll try to remedy that now.


In the past couple of months I have:


-gotten a credit card


-said goodbye to my precious '89 Toyota Tercel and hello to a '98 Mercury Tracer


-fallen asleep in the parking garage at work and stumbled in two hours late


-eaten sea urchin for the first and last time at the sushi bar with Matt


-gone to court to testify against my father


-been cut off by a rookie police officer which caused me to hit a truck


-gotten into numerous arguments with my biology professor


-donated money to National Public Radio


-gone to a strip club for a bachelor party where I was unexpectedly tackled by a dancer


-purchased a lot more books and another bookshelf


-taught my two-year-old neice how to skank in case ska ever comes back


-filled my co-workers desks drawers with popcorn (one rigged in such a way that when she opened the overhead compartment, popcorn showered down upon her)


-thoroughly enjoyed the films The Incredibles and Finding Neverland


-discovered that I can vomit standing on my tip-toes (with the aid of a dumpster) after a night of drinking and dancing at Hot Pink


-fallen in love with a woman I can't have


-abandoned writing a novel


-been struggling with the choice of sticking with the soul-dulling world of insurance or taking a drastic pay cut and teaching an after-school program


-gone to the "Fiesta of Lights" with Luis where we saw Barney the Dinosaur


-had a pizza-eating contest with Joel (there was no winner)


-finished three of the five books I'm reading.




But whenever people ask what I've been up to I still shrug and say "Work and school."